Direction indicator



vJune 24, 1930.

B. H. 'SMITH y 1,766,199

DIRECTION INDICATOR Filed Jan. 8, 1923 INVENTOR. WN /Z/W/- ATTORNEYS. f

Patented June 241,1 1930 PATENT OFFICE '--BnYAN'HQsMITm or BERKELEY,cALIroaNIA z 'DIRECTION INDICATOR Q vi.lipiwliuiujm Iinea January s,1923. serial No. 611,466.

My inventionf relates'- to direction indicators and more-particularly tomeans whereby the operatorf amotor vehicle may'indicate to pedestriansand approaching vehicles his :intention to turn. v f

One oflth Toh'ects of my invention is to provide' anfjillumin'atedsignal `and means or. vits 'operationi thatv may" be readilyvVarrangedfonfthe header, rear lamps of a fifii'therf object "istoprovide asi nalyisible'i to approaching vehicles "operab e.V in con-vjunction withjthej 'rear signalV vof a motor vehicle: ,v

Another' object is to provideilluminated signals arranged on theheadlights of a vehicle, which wheninfoperation divert the projected'raysg oi 4 light throu h the' signal lindicia, v'thereby lessening teheadh` ht glare' and'm'akin :thesignal' clearly visi le'. `f Stillanother vo jecstfis to provide'a signal of the character described thatrequires but littlej power to operate' 'and 'onlyduring the signalmgperiod. f y A v The invention possesses other advantageous features,some of which, with'the :foregoing, will be set orthLat length in thefollowing description where -I I shall outline in full that form oftheinvention which I have selected for illustration inthe drawingsAaccompanying and' forming ajpart of the pres ent specification.Althoughinthe drawings I have shown but one embodiment of my invention,I do not desire to be 'limited thereto, since the inventionl as`expressed in thel claims may be embodiedin other forms also. Referringto the drawings: E' Figure '1 is a vertical section offa `headlightequipped' with my signal means;

40 Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the heladlight equipped with my signalmeans, a poition of the reilector being broken away to disclose its-operatin mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a section ta en on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 further illustrating theoperating mechanism. Direction signals adapted for operation on thefront ofa motor vehicle and provided to warn pedestrians and approachingvehicles, have heretofore proven unsightly and difficult to see ydue toAtheheadlght glare of the signaling vehicle. I have there? ore arrangedindicia on the headlights of a Vehicle and rovide means for deflecting.the projected llght raystherethrough when 55 desiring toturn, thusdiverting the reiected light and making the, signal readily visible. Myinvention isa plicable to any "Couven tional type of headlight whichusuall comprises a casing 2' a reflector v3 arrange with- 6o 1n thecasing, a-lamp 4 arranged atl or adjacent the focus ofthe reflector anda lens 6 `disposed in front of the reflector. In accordance withy myinvention, the signal is associated with the headlight and usuallycomprises a sefgrnental plate 7 of translucent -material, preerablycolored glass, having indicia 8 thereon. `The plate is arranged sothat it will be illuminated by light emanating from the lamp 4 and isusually dis- 70 posed at the yupper portion of the lens. Instead ofbeing formed as a separateelement, the plate may be integralwith .thelens and formed of a different colored glass, usuall red, although thesignal platel on one hea 75 light may be red and on the other headlightgreen.

Normally the light emanating from the lamp 4; is controlled so that'themajor por- -tion of it passes throughthe lens below the signaling plateso that good driving light is provided and so 'that the signal is notvisible to the driver of an approaching vehicle. When it is proposed toturn the vehicle from its y course, the signal associated with theheadlight on that side of the vehicle toward which it is to be turned,is operated to cause a larger portion of the light tobe directed throughthe signal plate, thus illuminating i thesignal plate and dimming theheadlight,

so that the signal will-be dlearly visible tol an approaching driver. vBy simultaneously dimi/ning'thel headlight and displaying the signal, acompelling effective signal is provided which. calls the'attention oftheap- 95 proaching driver to the intent of the vdriver of the vehicle;Means are provided for diverting the'light fromrthe lens to the signalplate and vice versa, this means in the present construction comprisinga movable 10 shield arranged adjacent thelamp, which i shield may ha vea diffusing or a reflectlng surface.

such surface is preferably substantially cony Ycentric with thesource oflight so that'the lreflected light is directed :back to the mamreflector and is thence reflectedthrough the,vr

lens or the signal plate, depending upon the position of the shield.This will insurean efficient driving light at all times.

Arranged adjacent the lamp 4 1s a substantially lune-shaped shield 9supported on rods 11. The rods project through aperl tures in thereflector 3 and are rotatably arranged in bearings 12 suitably securedto` the back thereof. -The shield 9 is adapted to divert reflected ordirectly projected llght rays, either through the indicia and from 'theroadway or vice versa.

' 20 v The normal position of the shield is shown trolling the current,I wish it understood A the device will preferably be actuated by'anpautomatic switch of my invention shown' 'in my co-pending applicationSerial No. 315596,430 entitled Indicator and in conjunc- -tion with therear direction signal shown in y said application. Keyedto one endof theshaft 11 is a small gear 13 positioned between the bearing 12 and abearing 14 formed' on' a bracket -16. The bracket is secured to theinside of the headlight housing 2 and provides support for the entireoperating'mecha'nism. Positioned below the shaft- 11 in a bearing v.4518 is a short shaft 17 on which gears 19 and 21 are arranged. The gear19 is adapted to mesh with the gear 13 secured to shaft 11 and the gear2l lmeshes with a rackm 22 slidably supported in bearings 23 and 24.

- One end of the rackis secured to a solenoid core 26 longitudinallymovable through the bore of a coil v27, the rack and core normally beingheld in the full line position 4' shown by a tension spring interposedbe,

` stween a pin 29 on the rack and a pin 30 secured to the rack bearing23. In the position shownv the rack bearing 24 acts as a Alimit stop forthe solenoid core 23 which is partially-retracted from the bore'in thecoil 00 27, and 4the shield 9 isinnormal position.

.When it is desired to signal an intended turn, the [solenoid coil isvenergized through 4the wires 31, retracting the corev and rack -to thedotted line position shown, against the tension of the spring 28. Thismove- When a vreflecting surface is used, A

ment is transmitted through the gear train and rod 11 to the shield,rotating it in the direction of the arrow to the dotted line positionshown.A In this position some of the ,i light rays that illuminated theroadway are now dected and the indicia 'brightly il luminated. l v j IWhile I have shown but oneheadlight Vequipped with my device it is to beunderstood that the usual practice will be to equip both. lights. Theindicia will then be so arranged `that the left lamp indicates a leftturn and vice versa, also that though I prefer to use 1n device with myfirst men* tioned actuating mechanism which' is the 30 v'subject of aco-pending application, any -other suitable switch mechanism may be em--ployed. f

VIclairn:I i

1. The combination with an automobile g5 .headlight having a sourceoflight, of a lens having a signaling area and a road lighting area, andmeans for alternately .directing light from the vsource to therespectiveareas.

2. The combination with an automobile headlight having a source oflight, of a y'lens having a signaling area and aroad lighting area, anda movable shield for controlling the relative amount of lightdirectedtoward the respective areas.`

. X93 3. The combination withv 'anautomobile yheadlight having areflectona lens, and a source of, light, 4of a signal-rplatefoccupying aportion of the area in frontofthe reflecltor, a movable shieldpositioned adjacent to and shielding a44 substantially v constant por-`tion of said source oflight from said -re'- Hector,1 and means Aformoving said shield about said light source between-two extreme shieldingpositions.

4. Adirection indicator of the class described comprising a reflector; alens in,

front of said reflector; an indicium superposed 'on a portion of saidlens; a light source operatively positioned with respect to saidreflector, said lens, and said indicium;

a reflecting shield positioned adjacent to and shielding a portion ofsaid light source from said reflector; andmeans ormoving said shieldabout said light source to divert light from said source. and saidreflector alternately through said lens .or said indicium.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto'set my hand.

narnia H. sMiTH. 12o

